HOUSTON, April 9 (Reuters) - Venezuela's largest refining
center is working at 67 percent capacity, a slight decline
compared to January even though state-run PDVSA restarted two of
its crude distillation units in recent months, according to an
internal document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The 955,000 barrel per day (bpd) Paraguana Refining Center
(CRP), which includes the Amuay and Cardon refineries on
Venezuela's western coast, has had frequent operational problems
since a big explosion in 2012 that killed more than 40 people.

The complex was working at 70 percent capacity in January.
But with a crude distillation unit running partially, the
flexicoker undergoing unplanned maintenance and another 10 units
halted, its output declined to 643,000 bpd as of March 27, the
document said.

The document said the 645,000 bpd Amuay refinery, the
world's fourth largest, has five operational units out of
service, including the 72,000 bpd flexicoker. Also, distillation
unit No. 3 was runnning less than 10,000 bpd of crude, compared
to normal processing of 87,000 bpd.

According to the document, the 310,000 bpd Cardon refinery
stopped its alkylation and isomerization units on March 4 for
major planned maintenance. Another four operational units at
that refinery were also out of service by the end of March.

The 16,000 bpd Bajo Grande refinery at Zulia state, also
connected to the CRP, is working partially while repairs are
done to a pipeline going to one of its docks. High inventories
were reported at that refinery.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Terry Wade and David
Gregorio)